Old San Antonio-Laredo Road

The road's last decade is the least told. A ferry crossed the Frio at Tilden from 1879, and around 1880 stagecoaches began regular stops in town. The International-Great Northern line to Laredo, finished in 1881, ended that trade, and the plaque says ranch fences closed what the rails left. Barbed wire reached McMullen County in the 1880s. On the Franklin ranch, where the stage road crosses San Miguel Creek, and in places on the open range, the wheel ruts still mark the line the Spanish traced after 1755.

What the plaque says

Old San Antonio-Laredo Road Shortly after the founding of Laredo, in 1755, the Spanish established a transportation-communication route across this site. The road provided necessary abundance of water and grass for travel across this arid region, and served as a vital link between San Antonio and Laredo for well over a century. Although under constant surveillance by hostile Indian tribes, this route was traversed by numerous notable people. Fray Gaspar Jose De Solis passed this site on Aug. 21, 1768, on return from an inspection of Spanish Texas missions. Stephen F. austin, en route to Mexico City to seek a colonization grant, crossed here about March 18, 1822. On Feb. 26, 1828, Manuel de Mier y Teran passed on his way to survey Anglo-American strength in Mexican Texas. The Somervell expedition, in punitive retaliation for a Mexican invasion of Texas, crossed here on Dec. 1, 1842, bound for Laredo. Before and after the Civil War the road was used as a military supply route from San Antonio to forts Ewell (1852-54), at Nueces River crossing, and McIntosh, at Laredo, and as a trade outlet for early settlers. Although abandoned after ranches were fenced and a railroad from San Antonio to Laredo was built in 1881, the road is still visible on the open range. (1973)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Choke Canyon State Park — 17 mi
  A reservoir state park on the Frio River in two units, built after a 1982 dam, with birds, alligators and fishing on land people have crossed for more than 10,000 years.

More markers nearby

• Old McMullen College — 4.6 mi
• Tilden — 4.7 mi
• McMullen County — 4.7 mi
• Boot Hill Cemetery — 4.8 mi